Panel mounting for steel cased furnaces



Aug. 14, 1962 c. w. GORDON APANEL MOUNTING FOR STEEL cAsEn FURNAcEs 5 Sheets-Sheet l Filed March 6, 1959 Ill 0 0 2 JN Aug. I4, 1962 c. w. GORDON PANEL MOUNTING FOR STEEL cAsED FURNACES 5 Sheets-Sheet i?.

Filed March 6, 1959 NN n QN,

INI/ENTOR.

Charles W. Gord-on QN NN DN Aug. 14, 1962 c. w. GORDON PANEL MOUNTING FOR STEEL cAsEn FURNAcEs 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 6, 1959 22 -INI/ENTOR.

Charles W. Gordon gig# Aug. 14, D1962 c. w. GORDON 3,049,200

PANEL MOUNTING FOR STEEL cAsED FURNAcEs Filed March 6, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fig.v 4.

if :L 1 .b 24 L v.24 il \50 l Ik Il 32 30 :l )32 x l l IF* 5 l, Flut :I 5 Casing Panel i Q #I L |I 5,0/ ||EI 32 32 l I 30 24 'LL "ll 24 ffy" f-/JJ JNI/ENTOR.

Fig, Chures W. Gordon TTO NEY Aug. 14, 1962 c. W. GORDON 3,049,200

PANEL MOUNTING FOR STEEL. CASED FURNACES Filed March 6, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVEOR. Y

Charles W. Gordon Flg. 8.

United States Patent @ffice 3,9432@ Patented Aug. 14, 1952 3,049,200 PANEL MOUNTING FOR STEEL CASED FURNACES Charles W. Gordon, Glen Ellyn, lll., assigner to Cornhustion Engineering, Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 6, 1959, Ser. No. 797,737 4 Claims. (Cl. 189-34) My invention relates to the construction of casings r Walls for furnaces such as are utilized to dry and/or incinerate materials typied by city refuse and sewage sludge, and it has special reference to the formation of such furnace casings from panels of steel or other sheet metal.

Broadly stated, the object of my invention is to simplify the design of such furnace casings while lowering the cost of their fabrication and lessening the time needed to install them in the ield.

A more specic object is to provide improved means for mounting such sheet metal plate sections into the casing panel assemblage and there securing the four edges of each panel plate to supporting buckstays that surround the plate.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. l is a simplified perspective representation of a sludge drying and incineration furnace wherein my inventive improvements are incorporated; l

FIG. 2 is a section, looking down from line 2-2 of FIG. l, showing the four furnace walls and indicating how the left and right edges of individual casing sheets therein are secured via novel U channels to the supporting buckstays which extend vertically along the left and right sides of each panel sheet;

FIG. 3 reproduces to enlarged scale, again in perspective, the foremost corner and other portions of the FIG. l furnace and cuts away the upper portion of that corner with accompanying representation of further design details;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged representation in section of one of the furnace casing panels of FIGS. 1 2 drawn to indicate how the flat panel plate with its edge-engaging U channels appears when first lifted into place between supporting buckstays;

FIG. 5 is a corresponding representation, taken from section line 5 5 of FIGS. 1 and 6, of the same casing panel after its U channel ittings have been driven outwardly into contact `with and tack Iwelded to the buckstays;

FIG. 6 is a view in front elevation, from line 6 6 of FIG. 5, showing all four of the panel edge U channels Similarly contacting and tack welded to their associated buckstay supports;

FIG. 7 indicates how my novel U channel fittings are slipped over the edges of a corner plate section in preparation for assembling that section into a corner of the complete furnace casing; and

FIG. 8 shows this same FIG. 7 corner plate section tted into the furnace corner between supporting buckstays with its four U channel fittings respectively being tack welded to those buckstays.

Illustrative Steel Cased Furnace With Which My Invention Is Disclosed The casing construction improvements of my invention are disclosed by FIG. l and the other drawing views as being utilized with a furnace whose combustion chamber, designated C in FIG. 2, is enclosed by two side walls 10, and 11 plus two end walls 12 and 13 plus a roof wall 14 and a floor wall 15. Lining these walls is suitable refractory material indicated by FIGS. 2-3 in the form of outer and inner layers of ceramic brick 16. In the illustrative furnace represented sewage sludge or other fuel to be burned is introduced through the roof 14 via burner openings 17, while the hot gaseous products of combustion leave the furnace interior C via a large gas outlet opening 19 also in the furnace top.

Facing and held against the aforesaid outer layer of furnace lining brick 16 is heat insulating material 18 there maintained in place by sheet metal casing plates 20 plus a supporting grid structure made up of a first series of buckstays that extend vertically in spaced parallel relation as shown at 22 plus a second series of spaced parallel buckstays that extend horizontally as shown at 24 in criss-crossing relation to the vertical buckstays. These intersecting buckstay elements 22 and 24 may satisfactorily have the I beam cross sections represented, and they are of course suitably joined to each other (via welding or other attachment not shown) at the various points of intersection.

My inventive improvements have to do with mounting the steel or other Sheet metal panel plates 20 in the repre- -sented plate-space openings between the buckstay supports 22 and 24 of the casing structure; and as the description proceeds it will become evident that furnaces other than the one here illustratively represented for drying and/or burning sewage sludge also may have these same improvements applied thereto with comparable practical benefits.

How the Casing Panels 20 Are Fabricated and Installed and Secured in Place In accordance with my invention, each of the casing panels 20 is formed by the easy and economical operation of simply cutting it to proper size from a flat sheet of steel or other suitable metal. Once installed in the furnace casing assemblage, each of these panel sheets 2G derives its support from the surrounding buckstays 22 and 24 through U channels or fittings 30 which lirst are slipped over the four panel edges as shown in FIG. 4, then driven outwardly into contact with buckstays 22 and 24 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, and thereafter secured to those buckstays by spaced tack welds 32.

Each of these U channel fittings 30 may be formed in any suitable manner, as from a strip of the same sheet metal stock as is the casing panel 20 with which the fitting is to be used. Such a strip can readily be hot pressed into the U shape represented, and then cut in the shop to the proper length for which the panel size calls. Top and bottom and left and right channel fittings 3l) having lengths matched to the dimensions of a particular casing panel 20 are represented in FIG. 6. Each of these channels 30 has the rounded bend corners which FIGS. 4 and 5 indicate; sharp or square corners would of course. be equally satisfactory.

From FIGS. 3-4-5 it will be seen that the opening or slot in each U channel fitting 30 is just wide enough to receive the mating edge of its casing panel 20 with comparatively close snugness, thereby enabling the completed furnace casing to be made relatively pressure tight. At the same time this mating fit permits sliding adjustment between channel and panel during the installation operation now to be described.

In installing each of the casing panels 20, the four U channel ttings 30 therefor first are slipped over the edges of the flat panel plate and advanced thereon as far as they will go; this assemblage of plate 2@ and fittings 30 next is lifted into the opening formed therefor between intersecting Ibuckstays 22 and 24, with there initially being a small margin of space between fittings and buckstays are represented lby FIG. 4; the channel fittings 30 are thereupon driven out until all four of them contact the surrounding buckstays, as indicated by FIGS. 5 and 6; and spaced tack welds 32 then are made on the outer casing side (away from insulation 18) between each U channel 30 and the abutting flange of its associated buckstay 22 or 24, for the purpose of holding the panel sheet 20 permanently in its proper place.

The above having been done, the line of contact between each channel fitting and its buckstay 22 or 24 is filled with heat resistant plastic material (not represented), applied with a conventional caulking gun (also not shown), which imparts desired sealing to the contact juncture. Any and all open spaces around the panel 20 at the ends of its four U fittings 30 are likewise filled with similar caulking material, and in this Way there can be produced a nal furnace casing which is relatively pressure tight.

How the Corner Sections 34 Are Fabricated and Installed and Secured in Place Each completed furnace casing includes not only the the flat panel plates Z0 just described but also corner casing sections designated 34 in each of FIGS. l, 2, 3, 7 and 8. The fabrication` and installation of these corner sections 34 follows a procedure closely similar to that earlier described for the flat panel plates 20; and it will now be outlined.

vEach of these required corner sections 34 may be bent into the represented right-angle shape from a strip of the same sheet metal that is used to form the fiat casing panels 2t); its two side edges are provided with U channel fittings 30'` duplicating those used with said `fiat panels 20; and its top and bottom ends are similarly provided with the angleshaped U channel tittings shown at in FIGS. 3, 7, 8.

In `installing each corner section 34, the four U channels 30' and 35 of FIG. 7 first are slipped over the mating edges of the corner section 34 and advanced thereon as far as they will go; this assemblage of corner section and fittings next is lifted into its proper place in the casing assemblage corner, with the side fittings 30' contacting the adjoining vertical buckstays 22; the top and bottom U channels 35 are thereupon driven up and down until each of them contacts the face of its adjoining corner portion 24 of the horizontal `buckstay 24 at that level; and spaced tack welds 32 then are made, as shown in FIG. 8 between the U fittings 30 and 35 and the contacting faces of buckstay parts 22 and 24 for the purpose of holding the corner section 34 permanently in its proper position.

The above having been done, the line of contact be- -tween each channel fitting 30 and 35 and its associated buckstay part is filled with heat resistant plastic material (not represented), applied with a caulking gun as before; and any and all open spaces at the ends of U fittings 30 and 35 also are filled with similar caulking material. In this way the corner portions of the final furnace casing can, along with the flat wall portions of the casing, be made relatively pressure tight.

My New Casing Design Is Hzghtly Practical Steel clad furnace casings which incorporate the im- -provcments of my invention Iare superior to past designs because the parts therefor can be fabricated in the shop more speedily and at lower cost, and also because erection of the complete casing at the installation site likewise can be accomplished more quickly and at reduced expense.

During shop fabrication, only a minimum of labor is involved in that the U shaped strips or channels 30 (and also 35) are pressed from fiat plate stock to the form shown, while the main casing panels 20 themselves are simply flat sheets of plate stock cut to the proper size. No holes of any kind need be `drilled in any of these component parts; and the use of `screws and bolts is totally eliminated.

During erection at the installation site, the labor requirements are correspondingly modest and all operations of casing assemblage are comparatively easy and rapid. Attachment of the at panel plates 20 and the corner sections 34 -to their supporting buckstays 22 and 24 via the edge fittings 30 (and 35 and the spot welds 32 is accomplished both readily and quickly, while the final sealing with a caulking gun (not shown) likewise is easily done.

My inventively new casing design thus facilitates both the manufacture and the installation of furnaces of the steel clad type here under consideration.

Although I have disclosed the invention as being applied to a furnace intended for the drying and/or incineration of materials such as city refuse and sewage sludge, it will be understood that such disclosure is merely illustrative and that the same improvements are capable of being applied to metal cased furnaces intended for numerous other uses.

The inventive improvements herein disclosed and claimed are therefore extensive in their adaptation and hence are not to be restricted to the specific form here disclosed by way of illustration.

What I claim is:

1. A furnace wall casing of sheet metal construction comprising, in combination, generally vertical buckstays which lie in the plane of said casing and which are horizontally spaced one from another, generally horizontal buckstays likewise lying in the plane of said casing and being vertically spaced one from another and extending between said vertical Ibuckstays to form openings each of which is framed by horizontal buck-stays along its top and bottom and by vertical buckstays along its left and right sides, a casing panel of flat sheet metal vfor each of said buckstay-framed openings cut to a size slightly smaller thanV the dimensions of that opening, channel strips of U cross section respectively provided for and slipped in snug relation over the four edges of each of said panels with each assemblage thus formed being insertable into the aforesaid opening for that .panel and `With all. four of said panel-edge-engaging U channels then being drivable outwardly into contact With their adjoining buckstays, and means in the -form of welds for securing each of said outwardly-driven U channels to its contacting buckstay whereby each of said casing panels whose edges are engaged by those so secured U channels is firmly held within and serves to close the aforesaid buckstayframed opening therefor in the casing structure.

'2. The furnace casing organization defined by claim 1 wherein the -sheet metal casing panels as novelly secured in their buckstay-frame openings hold in place inner insttllztng material such as the drawings hereof represent a 3. A furnace casing organization as defined by claim l wherein the sheet metal casing panels as novelly secured 1n thelr buckstay-framed openings have heat resistant plastlc material applied around the outer edges of their U channel fittings for the purpose of establishing a seal between those ttings and the surrounding frameelements.

4. 'In the construction of a furnace wall casing of sheet metal design which casing includes an opening that is framed by upper and lower buckstays dening the top and bottom thereof plus left and right side buckstays defining the two sides thereof, the method of securing into said opening a closing panel of at sheet metal which comprises the -steps of cutting said panel to a size slightly smaller than the dimensions of the framed opening, providing for all four edges of said panel sheet channel strips of U cross section that are adapted to slip over their rcspective panel edges in snug relation, slipping said U channels over and fully upon said four panel edges, inserting said panel with its four engaging U channels into said framed opening, driving said U channels outwardly into Contact with the opening frame buckstays which directly adjoin them with resultant full closure of the opening by 6 the panel plus its edge-engaging channels, and then welding each of said outwardly-driven U channels to its contacting frame buckstay whereby those edge-engaging channels now serve to hold said panel sheet firmly within the aforesaid framed opening in the stated closing relation thereto.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,095,037 Reintjes Oct. 5, 1937 2,172,766 Kuhner Sept. l2, 1939 2,543,559 Sylvan Feb. 27, 1951 2,664,740 Cochrane Jan. 5, 1954 

